Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen

Honey Santana—impassioned, willful, possibly bipolar, self-proclaimed “queen of lost causes”—has a scheme to help rid the world of irresponsibility, indifference, and dinnertime sales calls. She’s taking rude, gullible Relentless, Inc., telemarketer Boyd Shreave and his less-than-enthusiastic mistress, Eugenie—the fifteen-minute-famous girlfriend of a tabloid murderer—into the wilderness of Florida’s Ten Thousand Islands for a gentle lesson in civility. What she doesn’t know is that she’s being followed by her Honey-obsessed former employer, Piejack (whose mismatched fingers are proof that sexual harassment in the workplace is a bad idea). And he doesn’t know he’s being followed by Honey’s still-smitten former drug-running ex-husband, Perry, and their wise-and-protective-way-beyond-his-years twelve-year-old-son, Fry. And when they all pull up on Dismal Key, they don’t know they’re intruding on Sammy Tigertail, a half white–half Seminole failed alligator wrestler, trying like hell to be a hermit despite the Florida State coed who’s dying to be his hostage . . .

Will Honey be able to make a mensch of a “greedhead”? Will Fry be able to protect her from Piejack—and herself? Will Sammy achieve his true Seminole self? Will Eugenie ever get to the beach? Will the Everglades survive the wild humans? All the answers are revealed in the delectably outrageous mayhem that propels this novel to its Hiaasen-of-the-highest-order climax.

BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Carl Hiaasen's Bad Monkey.

Carl Hiaasen has been writing about Florida since his father gave him a typewriter at age six. Then it was hunt-and-peck stories about neighborhood kickball and softball games. Now Hiaasen writes a column for the Miami Herald and is the author of many bestselling novels, including Sick Puppy and Nature Girl.Hoot, Hiaasen's first novel for young readers, was the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious Newbery Honor. And Flush, his second book for kids, spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller list. You can read more about Hiaasen's work at www.carlhiaasen.com.

The New York Times

Something real bads going to happen on this island, he says, and I dont want to be here when it does. If youd been reading a different Hiaasen book and accidentally opened this one here, this line would be your cue to stick around.

Book Reporter

Entertainment Weekly

Posing as a telemarketer herself, Honey subsequently lures Boyd and Eugenie to southwestern Florida with promises of a balmy vacation, then paddles them off to the aptly named Dismal Key  one of the region's 10,000 islands  where she intends to teach Boyd a lesson.

PopMatters

About.com Bestsellers

Pros Hiaasens wacky flair and style The quick pace of the absurd and loopy plot The entertaining characters names (and some of their personality traits) Cons This fluff is so light sometimes it's sickly The plot is a bit over-sexed and underdeveloped The story keeps spinning until it runs out ...